Tennessee football star cornerback Jermod McCoy was a participant at the Vols’ practice on Friday for the first time this offseason.
McCoy, coming off an ACL injury, was with the other cornerbacks during the short portion of practice open to the media. He went through coverage drills, but was not permitted to go through the drills with other players, and coaches were not allowed to throw balls while he was in coverage.
Later, he went on to go through a drill where he would ‘Peanut Punch’ the ball out of a coach’s arm to force a fumble.
McCoy did not have any significant brace on his injured knee, but did sport a small band just below his kneecap. There was no visible impediment in his movement while the media was able to watch.
To kick off fall camp, head coach Josh Heupel provided an update on McCoy’s timeline to return.
“No timetable on him,” Heupel said. “There are benchmark things that he’s got to accomplish within our training room to move on to the next phase of it. He’s handled it really well from the very beginning. Just his mindset and how he’s approached every single day. He’s done a really good job throughout the course of the summer. Periodically, you see his drills, movement, explosive-type drills that he’s doing, change based on his rehab protocol. He’s handled it extremely well. As we go through training camp, there’ll be a progression. How his body responds to some of those things will kind of dictate the time period of when he’s available for us.”
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Tennessee will open the season against Syracuse on August 30 in Atlanta. This gives McCoy less than a month of time to gear up if he intends to be ready for the opener.
Whether McCoy is or isn’t available to start the season, Rickey Gibson III will man one of the corner positions. On the other side, it’ll likely be Colton Hood, a Colorado transfer from this spring.
When healthy, McCoy is projected to start at cornerback opposite of Gibson. In his first year with UT, McCoy managed 44 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss. He came up with four interceptions, as well, including a one-handed snag against Ryan Williams of Alabama and a circus catch in the end zone at Vanderbilt.
McCoy started his career at Oregon State after being ranked as a three-star recruit out of high school. He played his prep ball in Whitehouse, Texas, before making the move to play for the Beavers.
With Oregon State, he played in 12 games and started in five as a true freshman. He led the team with nine passes defended and came down with a pair of interceptions.
